Tex Murphy: Overseer
Tex Murphy: Overseer is a remake of the original Tex Murphy game: Mean Streets. It features the same overall storyline, but with certain key changes to storylines and characters. Plot Summary Like all Tex Murphy games, Tex Murphy: Overseer takes place in post-World War III San Francisco. After the devastating events of WWIII, many major cities have been rebuilt (as is the case with New San Francisco), though certain areas still remain as they were before the war (as in Old San Francisco). WWIII also left another mark on the world: the formation of two classes of citizens. Specifically, the Mutants and the "Norms". Since Overseer is told as a series of flashbacks, it actually takes place in two different time frames. The current year is , shortly after the events of The Pandora Directive and as such tensions between the Mutants and Norms have begun to die down. However, the flashbacks take place in . The Crusade for Genetic Purity is beginning to gain momentum as it forms inside the Law and Order party, a quasi-fascist political organization that plans to drive the mutants out of San Francisco, and tensions are building between the two groups. The Mutants are usually forced to live in the run-down areas of cities such as Old San Francisco. Tex lives in his new apartment on Front St. in New San Francisco. He has just been kicked out of the Colonel's Detective Agency for reporting the Colonel's unethical practices, and has now gone into business on his own. Tex Murphy: Overseer starts out with Tex going on a date with Chelsee Bando. Worrying about Tex's ability to commit to a relationship, she confronts him about how he still wears his wedding ring from his ex-wife, Sylvia Linsky. This leads Tex to recount the story of his first case. Tex is hired by Sylvia Linsky to discover the truth behind her father's suicide. She believes he was actually murdered, but the police have already closed the case. With no one else to turn to, she goes to Tex for help. Tex becomes involved in a plot involving implants and mind control, and must do what he can to stop it, before it's too late.'' The story which Tex recounts to Chelsee is essentially the events of Mean Streets, the first game in the series. There are, however, several notable plot differences between the two.' Storyline' Chelsee awakens Tex over the vidphone to get him out of bed in order to prepare him for their date at the Golden Pagoda.After arriving at her home , their relationship problems come up regarding Chelsees reluctance to be intimate and the fact that Tex still wears his wedding ring from his marriage with Sylvia Linsky.This provokes Tex to recount his very first case as a Private Investigator which involved his wife Sylvia in the year 2037 when tensions between the Mutant League and The Law & Order Party an extreme right wing political party that was a precursor to the Crusade for Genetic Purity were begin to surface. Tex had just set up his business but had seen no customers for several weeks until Sylvia came into the office and told Tex that her father Carl Linsky had just committed suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge but did not believe the official story.She believes that he had been murdered largely due to the fact that he was afraid of water ever since he nearly drowned at the age of 12.Tex then visits Detective Clemens who was in charge of the investigation who discusses with Tex the case saying it was likely a murder,the recent suspension of Colonel Dobbs due to Tex and the name of Carls will executor,Dolores Lightbody.Dolores reveals that she and Carl were having an affair and that the sole beneficiary of the will an million dollar life insurance was Sylvia.Back at the Linsky house Sylvia hands Tex material from the police;Carls wallet,his two house keys,the key to his speeder,two other keys and his suicide note.Tex confronts Sylvia about Dolores revelation regarding the life insurance and will stating she wants Tex to prove it was murder so she can get the money.After she storms Tex investigates the house,the attic which leads him to Carls private warehouse.During these investigations he finds pieces of a passcard,a circuit repair kit,sleeping pills,a note behind the cork board with the words HIP S.O.B.,a banana, a letter from an entity called “SF” and “Wanda Peck” as well as references to a the poisoning of a woman Rona Morgan and an entity called Overlord.Returning to his office he gets a message from an inebriated Sylvia.He returns to her house and finds her on the couch drunk and lamenting the loss of her father and current financial situation.As she passes out Tex brings her to bed which causes Chelsee to remember how they first met;Tex had passed out on her newsstand after a party and she awoke him and after he drunkly lurched towards her she knocked him out with a punch. Dolores arranges an appointment for Tex with the head of the North Hill Sternwood Clinic ,Arnold Sternwood who reveals the next night that Carl was a neurosurgeon who was under investigation for allegations for unethical practices by C.A.P.R.I.C.O.R.N. but they were quickly dropped and Carl then left his job to do independent work.At the C. A.P.R.I.C.O.R.N. HQ Wanda Peck reveals that the investigation into Linsky was related to allegations of experiments done on terminally ill and dead patients but the allegations were dropped once they were found to be baseless.All she knows about Overlord is that it represents a lot of power and is related to the Law & Order Party.Back at his office Tex uses the American Information Database to find information on Sunny Fletcher who he has discovered was the “SF” character another Private Investigator(on a tip from Dolores).He finds out that he has had several minor offences such as a DUI which Detective Clemens confirms as well as giving Tex his address.At Fletchers motel room Tex meets him and learns that Carl had hired him to investigate the whereabouts of several people including Val Davis and Rona Morgan who had just died under mysterious circumstances when he learnt of their location.He informs Tex that he is unable to remember the remaining names on the list and warns him that snooping around anymore could get him killed.Back at Carls warehouse he reassembles the pieces of the passcard together alongside one last piece he found inside a bishop chess piece from Sunny’s (atop a copy of Martian Memorandum).Using the STG-E passcard and its password “BISHOP” Tex is able to access the information on it which is an exchange of emails between Linsky and Fletcher.Linsky believes his life is in danger due to the work he is working on with at least 8 other people.He also gives him an address of where he thinks main hub of the project may be:Route 12,Box 4,Fresno,Ca.9365002.Tex visits the address in the mild of the hot zone of radiation left from the war.After solving some puzzles he is able to procure a picture of Linsky and another older man whom Wanda identifies as John Klaus an influential member of the Law and Order party which considering it was taken recently is interesting to her.She keeps the photo to analyse it and Tex learns from Sternwood that Klaus was also a neurosurgeon at the clinic and was friends with Linsky.After picking a letter from Sunny detailing how his previous investigations led to lose his wife at the hands of Big Jim Slade(who he refers to as The Angel of Death)caused him to become bitter and warned Tex not to follow in his footsteps and that an Anasasi ruins southwest of Tuscan was where he tracked down Bosworth Clark. After a good days sleep Tex travels to the ruins and after gaining entrance to Clarkes secret laboratory (his glasses outside the door foreshadowing the thrashed room) after traversing a gorge on ladder he procures a hidden video disk in a smoke alarm which reveals the final moments of Bosworth.The man known as the Angel of Death or Slade arrives after he hides his pass card and forces him into a game of Russian Roulette before he is killed on the 11th of June 2037.Using musical tones in the video Tex manages to find the pass card G and observing the consoles finds that they may control satellites as well as a note held by a magnet with the password as TCAHCMEKE which is an anagram for “CHECKMATE” .The information on the card is about the different phases of whats called the STG project.Back with Wanda Peck she reveals that both Klaus and John are wearing STG badges which is a project she has been investigating since hearing it in a letter from someone called “The Poisoned Pawn”.All she knows about the STG project is that may be linked to The Law & Order Party and also she believes someone called Jorge Valdez is linked to the letter.Back at his office Tex does a search on the AID for both STG and Jorge Valdez and finds there are at least a dozen people who go by that name(as confirmed by Wanda)and that there is one local company related to STG – Security Technologies Group,a subsidiary of Gideon Enterprises.According to WandamJ Saint Gideon was formerly the CEO of the company but was ousted by one of his board members Frank Schimming in a coup detat.He became friends with C.A.P.R.I.C.O.R.N when he supplied them with their surveilliance equipment and they asked him to become interested in hiring him but he relented especially since his company became linked with Law & Order.Wanda sends Tex a fax containing Frank Schimmings number who reveals that he knew Klaus and Rona Marson(who left to start her own independent work) personally and as employees but didn’t know who Carl Linsky and also gives the address of Gideons home.Tex visits Dolores who confirms that the photo was recent and that Jorge was someone Carl played chess with.Tex arrives at Gideons Cliffside mansion and the topic soon comes to how he became wheelchair bound: ''“It was 2013. I was in Geneva to attend a covert ''meeting of UN operatives. There were fourteen of us. And at least one was a' traitor armed with an explosive device. I was the only survivor.There are no more heroes anymore only villians of varying degrees " Gideon then became the founder of his megacorporation and regained faith in the world after becoming friends with other outcasts in society – mutants but when the coup detat occurred he lost faith again: "'''But then it happened again. In the blink of an eye, all those years of investment and careful nurturing were torn from me by thieves and liars masquerading as board members and stockholders. And now towering over them all is Frank' Schimming. His disregard for integrity is matched only by his worship of dividends and profit margins. So.. So, nothing has happened. I have come full circle. And, once again I'm unwanted, unneeded and facing a purposeless existence. So, so you listen to me! If you insist on striding through life, ''arms laden 'with hope, you will only meet with one devastating disappointment after another. ''Gideon reveals that he knew Linsky only by name and that he personally regularly plays chess with Jorge Valdez online.Tex visits Jorge at the Rank and File Chess Shop.The owner reveals himself to be Jorge(but not The Posioned Pawn”) and that Carl was a frequent customer.Back at his office Tex gets a videocall from a mutant informant that Universityo San Fransisco professor,Val Davis died last week and that he too was working on the STG project alongside Linsky.He tells Tex to “Look for the chess move” ''at the lab and to get there within the next hour or the doors will lock.Tex investigates the building finding a post it with the word “NEQUE” written on it next to the main computer and enters a nearby room to find out it is a radiation chamber.The door closes behind Tex and an alarm sounds warning that the levels of radiation will reach critical levels in the next five minutes.After reconstructing the circuit board to the door he is able to disengage the trap and then steals a pole and passcard scanner inside there.He makes his way to a series of animal cages containing a plethora of animals including a large gorilla guarding a box.He tries to use the pole to steal it but realises the ape is too strong and so mixes the sleeping pills with the bananas he found in Linskys home and feeds him the drugged fruit.Using the STG – A card he finds inside the box Tex uses the password ”QUEEN” to see an enlarged image of the card with the chess move “Qxd7” examining the other cards he finds the mves “Rd1” on card E and “Rxe7” on card G.Back at his office Tex receives a note from Sonny saying he has information on Jim Slade.Sonny appears to be in much better shape than last time Tex met him and reveals he stole a passcard from Slade which he got for his lodge.Although sonny was able to steal it but Slade and arrived home and judging from the blood on the card and Sonny’s hand injured.After blinking a few times and tilted his head back and rolling his eyes with a satisfied smile Tex soon realises that Sonny is dead and toasts to his dead comrade.He reveals to Chelsee that he never really found out if it was really Slade that killed Sonny.A note in the room reveals that Slade is staying at the Big Surf Lodge. Then at the crack of dusk the next night Tex enters the lodge using tape measure and magnet to catch the key next to the kitchen window to find that Slade is in the shower.Tex carefully investigates the lodge collecting a lottery ticket,a vial of chloral hydrate,a note from Robert Knott with the Passcard F password :”SINGER”,a chart with letters and numbers on it a Gideons Bible and a post box office key in a pair of clothes inside a closet.Once inside the closet the phone rings.Slade answers and reveals to his employer he has already killed six people and that a former foe has surfaced that has become a nuisance meaning he will be a little bit late in carrying out his next hit.Slade heads to the kitchen and Tex moves into the bathroom and steals an key for handcuffs inside a jacket and hides in the bath/shower unit when Slade return. When Slade moves to the living room to watch TV Tex unlocks a handcuff tying Slades briefcase to his bed and leaves for his office.Using the numbers on the lottery ticket Tex opens the briefcase to finds a grille with holes used to decipher the chart with numbers and letters.Here he determines that the name of people on Slades hitlist are: 1.Rona Morgan 2.Val Davis 3.Bosworth Clarke 4.Carl Linsky 5.Sylvia Linsky 6.Greg Call 7.Samuel Q. Jones 8.Larry Hammond 9.J Saint Gideon 10.Tex Murphy Some of the letters are highlighted in red and spell Mill Valley .Also inside is a card with series of verses numbers relating to passages in the Bible: Job 9.25.8 , Ex 29.9.21 , 2 Kings 9.1.24, Pslams 147.4.4.,Genesis 5.27.8-10-12 which reveals the location of a cache of goods is in the Mill Valley Post box office number 969.After collecting a Law and Order Level 1 ID Card and a coded message from the post office it shifts back and forth 2044 where Tex is parking the speeder at the Golden Pagoda and notices an exhibit for Fabrege eggs ''"...the most exotic ''and exquisite exhibit of the decade.'' Back in 2037 he is dropping Sylvia off at her fathers private warehouse to keep her low until things between him and Slade blow over.At the Law and Order Party HQ Tex is confronted by a guard who takes Tex’s security card to analyse it while Tex spikes his coffee with the choral hydrate and hides in the mens bathroom while the guard is knocked out.In the bathroom Tex opens one of the lockers for a pamphlet with information on Robert Knott one the major members of the Law and Order party with a picture of the reception hall. Using the Law and Order Credo with the coded message from the deposit box Tex deduces that not only is Rober Knott not Slades employer but in fact his next target and that the code to his office is PIRANHA.Inside the office the alarm goes off and Tex finds a note with the address 8280 Bascom,Los Gatos and a folder containing Wanda’s investigation into Robert Klaus who has been making his way high up into the ranks of Law and Order.Furthermore Tex finds a key to a locker in the bathroom which reveals a note with the message:MY TELEPHONE 69835374663 RK OFFICE written backwards.When input into Robert office vidphone the message:OPEN SESAME is spelled out backwards again. Using these letters and referring to the numbers on the phone he deduces that the number sequence needed to open the safe in the office is 6736737263.Inside there is a CD meant for Wanda in case of Roberts death and hidden in the offices bookcase is a photo of Sylvia and Frank Schmming and gets his ID card back.After finding the C.A.P.R.I.C.O.R.N HQ empty with Wanda nowhere to be seen Tex heads to the address scrawled on the note.While searching the abandoned building in the dark Tex is attacked by a man in the shadows beating him to the ground while another man kneels next to the unconscious Murphy and injects him with something with a large syringe.As they enter The Golden Pagoda Tex tells Chelssee that :"When I finally regained consciousness, it felt like I'd been trying to drink my own body weight in cheap gin. That wasn't the worst of it, though. I had this ripping pain inside my head. I mean, I was munching ibuprofen tablets like they ''were Reese's Pieces. That didn't stop the blinding light I was getting behind my eyes or the pain I had in my head' 'The pain made him suicidal and could have led him to follow in the footsteps of Carl Linsky.Tex then meets Wanda at' C.A.P.R.I.C.O.R.N HQ and reveals that she knows Knott personally and had been working with him for some time and believes that if Tex wants to find him he should check out his secret that almost nobody knows of.The following night,Tex arrives at the cabin and sees another box in an aquarium guarded by piranahs.In the kitchen he collects a mini torch,a wrench and water purifying hose attached to the sink which he removes and uses it alongside a nail he collects from a painting to create a makeshift fishing rod to get a Level 4 Law and Order ID badge.In Knotts bedroom Tex manages to find a blow up sex doll under the bed and a locked armoire(there are also references to Under a Killing Moon – a painting of the moon amidst a ruin landscape,a cloth with Mayan artwork) and collects a log from the fireplace and a piece of rope from the pantry before leaving for the Law and Order HQ.Outside he meets Robert Knott aiming a crossbow at him who pushes him back inside and interrogates him.Robert reveals that although he is a candidate for the Law and Order Party he is merely a figurehead for the partys plans to put implants into the populace and thus identify,track and control everyone.He further explains that the recent murders are attempts to silence everyone who has been working with Greg Call of Gideon Enterprises and that Frank Schimming is under the thumb of the Law and Order Party.As he tells Murphy these revelations a trio of mercenaries arrive and assassinate Knott.Tex grabs their attention and is shot at a few times but is unhurt,however after checking up on his P.I. Handbook to check up on Rule #2 How to hide from people with guns he realises that the gas line from the gas stove was hit releasing it into the cabin.Tex steals the armoire key from Knott’s body and then takes the clothes from inside and puts it on the blow up sex doll.He uses the rope and log to create a makeshift ladder up into the skylight in the living room and using the blow up doll creates a distraction so he can escape.As he does the mercenaries close in on him and he drops the lit mini torch inside causing the cabin to explode,killing the mercs while Tex takes shelter behind some rocks. Tex begins searching for Sylvia at the warehouse but finds her at his office who he condemns for being so reckless and she states that she did so because she has become attracted to him.He explains that cannot fall for her as it the number one rule of a P.I. and they argue of that until he states that when the case is over and the murder solved he will consider it. When he awakens the night after that,Tex receives another videocall from the mutant informant asking if he got the chess move,which Tex confirms.He also states that he will meet up with him when it is safe to do and to find out about Greg Call from and find his secret base of operations.Greg Call was the head of the STG operation and the police were warned that he would turn up dead and that they will have more information before hangs up.At the San Fransisco Police Department Detective Eve Clements reveals that the police would have ruled his death as being the result of natural causes if it were not for the fact that an anonymous tip the day before his death.The tip told that if he turned up dead then the police were to perform an autopsy but nothing out of the ordinary with the exception of a small plastic capsule with strange markings on it located just under his skin.Clements gives the capsule to Tex and information on the deaths of Val Davis and Rona Morgan in exchange for the whereabouts of Big Jim Slade.Tex upon looking at the markings realises it in braille.Heading to the abandoned office in Fresno he finds a package with a Braille alphabet and a note saying “''Murphy has been introduced to the Overseer” and clues on how to decode the markings which spell “NEXUS”. Since STG was a subsidiary of Gideon Enterprises, and Greg Call was the head of the STG project,Tex heads to Gideons mansion to find out more about his new clues.As he is putting the final preparations for a trip to the Netherlands Gideon is hesitant to talk to Murphy.He reveals that as part of the U.N.G.P. treaty with the government he was able to acquire dozens of abandoned installations across the country(like the one where Bosworth worked at),the one naked NEXUS is located near Mount Shasta,in Washington State.He is surprised when Tex shows him the picture of Schimming and Sylvia.When Tex enters the lab he is automatically and a computer voice reveals he has an implant in him.Upon looking over some notes regarding a list of different types of implants he deduces that he has the P33 Overseer implant inside him and must find the right kamikaze implant to neutralise it(N216).After looking through a newspaper clipping regarding Val Davis death in a speeder crash and using a keycard he gathers a syringe and the N216 kamikaze implant stored in an autoclave before collecting passcard STG - D.After injecting it into his neck he enters the Implant Removal Station and using a map map of his brain on the computer there he guides the N216 implant to the Overseer one to destroy it.Once finished he hides from another intruder.It turns out to be his informant who reveals to be another member of the project :Larry Hammond.He reveals that although ran the operations none of the other members of the project knew each others names and were designated to working on their specific area of the design independently.He gives him another passcard STG-B ad two notes sent to him from Greg inside a envelope labelled WARD.Larry leaves Tex to solve the riddles within and decides to go into hiding.One of the notes details instruction to a procedure called STALEMATE and the next one is a personal letter to Larry.Using the solution to the Gregs puzzles from the letter in Fresno,Tex ascertains that the password to Calls card is GAMBIT.Using Gregs card on the computer in the laboratory brings up a video message that not only play once but also reveals the true nature of who and what Overlord is. He reveals that he was one of the mutants that founded Gideon Enterprise and thus formed a great bond with Gideon who recently made a breakthrough in Project Overlord which he states is a means of using nanotechnology to create devices that once implanted into an individual could allow them to be controlled via physiological reaction particulary positive reactions thus making them a slave.Gideon plans to implant key political figures thus speeding up the world peace process.Each member of the project would work on their own phases devoid of knowledge of the others and what the project was for and the passcards allowed for data to be transmitted to the central Overlord computer.Greg discovered that John Klaus who had full disclosure of it aimed to sell the end program to Law and Order in order to gain more power.After confronting Gideon with this information he found him to be apathetic and thought he was unwilling to believe it or was unwilling to disclose anymore information.As a result Greg initated a fail-safe program for Overlord which he called STALEMATE which required all eight passcards.After being unable to find Linskys card after his suicide he came to think he faked his death to work with Klaus and thus Law and Order.Back at the Golden Pagoda Chelsee believes she may have solved the mystery:That Sylvia planned everything getting her father to stage his suicide with a body that looks like him planted with his wallet,clothes and suicide note and after dumping the body in the bay has Sylvia identify him.Tex smirks at the idea and details his second visit to the Law and Order HQ.At the HQ he enters the reception hall and places the picture on the pamphlet up high next to the camera using a musical stand in order to fool the guard.He then finds his way into a secret laboratory owned by Klaus finding a picture of Gideon and Sylvia in a playful embrace alongside a note detailing the political party concerns over a new faction called The Crusade for Genetic Purity forming amongst the group as well as another one confirming Klaus was aiming to get the STG technology into the hands of Law and Order.After finding STG – B passcard Tex distracts the card outside with a phonecall to Knotts office and heads home for the day. That night,Tex receives two video messages one from Jorge with an important clue at his office and another from Wanda saying they have enough evidence thanks to Tex and his recovery of Knott’s CD to publicy destroy Law and Order and bury them forever.Back at Jorges shop he says he has a message on his computer from the Poisoned Pawn asking him to come to the San Tomas Mission alone at midnight in ordr to get the truth about Linsky suicide and its connection to the STG project. Making his way to the roof Tex finds Sylvia tied to a chair with her face bloody, mouth taped over and passed out.After awakening Sylvia Tex meets Klaus coming from out of the shadows who reveals that Carl Linsky was the original Poisoned Pawn sending information to C.A.P.R.I.C.O.R.N. and that he was masquerading as him to Tex in order to lure Tex here. Klaus tells Tex that he brought Tex here to offer a trade. If Tex tells Klaus what he knows, Klaus will let Sylvia go free. Klaus asks Tex about the STG passcards and what he knows about the STG project. Tex is uncooperative at first, when Klaus asks about the cards "To the best of my recollection, they're somewhere on the Spanish high plains with my trusted servant, Sancho.' But then admits he has them when Klaus threatens Sylvia’s life.As a token of appreciation for Tex telling everything he knows about Overlord and the STG project Klaus ungags Sylvia but then changes his mind and decides to kill them both revealing he was never going to let Sylvia free as shes been intimate with all of his friends and enemies and thus a bigger threat than Tex and brings in Slade to do the dirty work.Slade appears behind Klaus and at first seems to pat his collegue on the shoulder only to end up twisting his neck killing him instantly.He turns the tide on Tex saying he’ll take the cards and sell them to Gideon for a large fortune in order to secure the STG projects success.Slade agrees to let Tex give Sylvia one last kiss and while doing so passes her his pen knife while doing so in order to allow her to escape while he then engages in a fist fight with Slade.While battling Slade charges to the light switch and hides and continues to divert his attention to allow Sylvia time to escape. He agrees to give Slade all the passcards in exchange for their lives but accindetly drops it in the gears.Slade reaches for it but gets his hand stuck.After freeing his hands he and Tex continue to fight until Sylvia now free squirts oil in his face causeing him to slip but is punched in the face by Tex.Now tied to a railing Slade is left to be guarded by Sylvia until the cops arrive.She admits that her life as an escort was shameful but never was in love with Klaus,Gideon or Schimming and never supported Law and Order and she asks for forgivness which Tex gives to her.While receiveing the final STG – H passcard from Klaus’s body Tex is told by Sylvia that Slade never killed her father,rather Klaus removed a tumour from his brain and replaced with an implant that drove him insane ,it was Slades job to just track him and ensure he killed himself.Klaus suspected that the main Overlord computer was located in Gideons mansion.After returning to the Nexus labs and looking each passcard under the microscope for more “moves”Tex infiltrates the mansion discovering a puzzle of the Alcatraz prison island and assembles it to a list of all the passcard puzzles including those that he doesn’t know already ie STG – H.He finds two Gideon Enterprises disks and finds on them information regarding the renovation of Alcatraz Prison with automated features similar to Gideons mansion and how to navigate various cells.Tex deduces that Gideon never went to the Netherlands but rather set up a private base on the island in the San Fransisco Bay and heads back to his office to meet Syvlia who states she has just inherited the million dollar inheritance meaning she and Tex can now reitire and get married.Tex disagrees saying he still wants to be a P.I. and finish the case he is on once and for all.After a brief squabble Sylvia storms out and Tex drives over to Alcatraz.Once he gets out of his speeder he is zapped by a laser and knock out and awakens up in a cell the next night. Tex escapes his prison cell and afte solving a plethora of puzzles he finds himself inside a cavernous room which contains a small computer terminal:the Overlord terminal.Once he has entered the name STALEMATE he then proceeds to enter each passcard one by one into the computer and enters their corresponding passwords: A QUEEN B DRAW C CASTLE D GAMBIT E BISHOP F RESIGN G CHECKMATE H KNIGHT Once this is done he initiates the sequence and then puts on a pair of virtual reality goggles and once a large virtual chessboard appears he is confronted by Gideon’s voice.He and Tex debate the Overlord program with Tex stating that not only has no one the right to play God but that a lot of innocent people have died and it could easily fall in the wrong hands like it nearly did with Law and Order.Gideon dismisses his argument stating that in his hands the hands of mercy and justice a lot of good could come from it.A large virtual chess board appears and Tex inputs the chess moves found on passcards A-F in order to put Gideons king into checkmate.Once that happens the Overlord satellite orbiting earth explodes.Suprised Gideon removes his goggles and takes a gun from his drawer and arrives down an elevator to meet Tex for a parting drink.Murphy leaves but is interrupted by Gideon who hands him his lighter saying he no longer needs it.Tex leaves in the elevator and as he lights a cigar from Gideon he hears a gunshot. On the final night of his case Tex celebrates his victory by picking up a penny and discarding his “''Little Red Book of Rules For a P.I''.” in a nerby trashcan.He heads to Linskys house and celebrates closing the case and upcoming marriage to Sylvia.After suggesting they invest the million dollars,Sylvia lets slip that she only has $850,000 dollars left and reveals that she has bought a present in honour of him solving his first:a fedora and a trenchcoat owned by Humphry Bogart.He 6decides to keep in a frame and when asked if he wants a cigarette takes one.Back at the Pagoda a disgruntled Tex plays with Gideons lighter and questions whether his plan was justified.Chelsee reassures him that the decision he made was correct:"Hey, this is not a perfect world, and no one expects it to be. But the most important thing is our freedom. The freedom to make choices for ourselves. And yes, every now and again, maybe the freedom to make an occasional mistake. You are much too critical on yourself." ''They discuss how the night has helped build there relationship and then walk outside.They kiss and find that Tex’s speeder is now stolem.Realising his insurance policy has expired they aim to head to the police station.Suddenty a man in sunglasses and a cowboy hat arrives and when they explain their predictament he offers them a ride to the police station.Tex is hesitant to go inside as he has a bad feeling but Chelsee assures him nothing can go wrong.On the way to the station Tex notices an advertisement for the upcoming Fabragee exhibit. Now things seem terribly wrong, and Tex remembers the twenty-fourth rule from the P.I. rule-book he used to carry: Don't take rides from strangers.Up in the front seat, the stranger introduces himself to Chelsee as "Dalton." Tex leans forward, and tells Chelsee he still doesn't think this is a good idea.When the driver says the day could get worser ,Tex freaks and leans forward only for him and Chelsee to be shot in the neck with darts by Dalton.Both of them pass out and the screen fades to a red imprint of Tex with the message that it is to be continued….. Gameplay Tex Murphy: Overseer is the third game in the Tex Murphy series to use virtual world technology. For Overseer, Access Software created a new virtual world engine designed for use in Windows 95/98. Along with the new engine came a slightly modified control system. The virtual world still allowed for full freedom of movement and allowed the user to search for clues in every corner, which by this point had become a staple of the Tex series. Overseer continued the use of the Tex series' unique method of dialogue selection. Instead of providing you with a list of responses showing the exact words that Tex will say, each dialogue choice is given an adequate description. Never knowing exactly what Tex will say when you select an option helps to keep the dialogue surprising, and often funny. The game provided two difficulty settings: Entertainment mode and Gamer mode. On Entertainment mode, hints were available and you could bypass certain puzzles in the game. A total of 1,500 points were available on Entertainment mode. In Gamer mode, no hints were available and puzzles could not be bypassed. However, you received bonus points if you solved certain puzzles within a set amount of time. A total of 4,000 points were available on Gamer mode, though due to a glitch with one puzzle, only 3,900 of these points are actually attainable. Unlike its predecessor, The Pandora Directive, Overseer didn't have any other changes to gameplay between the two modes. Development The game continues the Tex Murphy tradition of using some well-known actors to portray major characters, such as Michael York, Henry Darrow, Richard Norton, Joe Estevez, and Clint Howard. Overseer was the first game to ship a version developed specifically for DVD-ROM. The package contained two copies of the game, one on five CDs and one on a single DVD. The advantage to the DVD version was the absence of any disc swapping and the higher quality video files used. They were otherwise identical in content. Some versions of the game have a blinking red LED embedded in the front of the box, on top of the central building.1 Initially, Access intended to develop a proper sequel to The Pandora Directive called Trance, but shifted their plan to Overseer in order to take a shorter term contract with Intel, who wanted a game to bundle with upcoming hardware. The choice to use an existing story arose out of the needs of an accelerated development cycle. Never intended as a full-on sequel, let alone the final Tex Murphy game, director Adrian Carr said it was "created solely as a demonstration for a new Intel computer chip." When Intel decided to drop the bundle, Access Software continued development and expanded the interactive areas, and published the finished game themselves. The cliffhanger ending was intended as a lead-in to a true sequel. Trance, which was later expanded into a trilogy of games, tentatively titled Chance, Polarity, and Trance. However, Access was sold to Microsoft shortly after Overseer's release and the Tex sequels were put on permanent hold. This was due to the merge, the series' declining sales, and the decline of adventure games as a whole. In October 2004, Microsoft sold Overseer developer Access Software and rights to the game to Take-Two Interactive who then renamed the studio to Indie Built. However, in 2005 Indie Built shut its doors. After Indie closed, the rights to the series transferred to a group of former Access employees, among whom was Aaron Conners. Since Overseer, Conners and Jones have tried to give fans some hints as to where the story was headed: these hints included Flash animations and a series of "Old Time Radio" episodes. However, all further animations and radio episodes were cancelled in 2008. After the closing of Indie Built, Chris Jones and Aaron Conners re-acquired the rights, and hoped to finance a new Tex game by developing casual hidden object games. During this time, they commenced some exploratory pre-development but were unable to generate enough capital to develop a sequel. Chris and Aaron launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise the additional money needed to do a "full" Tex Murphy game. The campaign exceeded its initial goal of $450,000 on June 7th; production on Project Fedora began on June 18th. External links * ''Tex Murphy: Overseer at GOG * Tex Murphy: Overseer at Steam * Project Fedora Category:Games Category:Overseer